That Damned Dialectic

From the humblest sub-atomic particle
To the entirety of the Universe itself
A remorseless struggle of opposites
Creating unity by infinite stealth.


Centripetal and centrifugal forces
Struggling through the eons of time
Stability just a momentary illusion
Perfection just an illusionary crime.

The attraction and repulsion of opposites
In both the physical and philosophical world
Creating an awful yet awesome predicament
A universe of opposites unfurled.

Quantitative and qualitative changes
interacting and intermingling like twine
As relentless as the heartbeat of any living creature
As beautiful as a well-constructed rhyme

Its the clash between the positive and the negative
Its the clash between the familiar and the strange
Its the clash between appearance and essence
Its the clash between permanency and change.

Its the struggle between the individual and the tribe
Its the struggle between how to live and how to die
Its the struggle between competition and cooperation
Its the struggle between the answer and the question why.

Its the contradiction between empathy and not caring
Its the contradiction between altruism and self
Its the contradiction between charity and egoism
Its the contradiction between communal and private wealth.

We are caught in the never-ending battle of gender
And we are caught between the old and the new
Fight or flight is an ongoing dilemma
As is the battle between the false and the true.

Its the struggle between the individual and the collective
Its the war between relative truths
Trapped between the subjective and the objective
Winning and losing is but an ephemeral ruse.

Change is the only kind of permanency
In a cosmos where chaos always rules
Seeking purpose in a purposeless universe
Is the business of the most intelligent of fools.

The dialectic is a humourless master
Its as uncaring as a cold lump of clay
Its domain is omnipotent and omniscient
It controls even the transition of night over day.

The dialectic permeates every single molecule
It presides over every single thought
It resides over the conscious and subconscious
It underlines all that is taught.

Contradictions are the pervasive condition
Between individuals and social classes
Unravelling of these contradictions is essential
To discard those rose tinted glasses.

But if Ive given the impression of a fatalism
Where things are determined from above and beyond
Then I must correct that impression immediately
Because human consciousness can increasingly respond

To the reality of an unfolding universe
Who’s laws are just beginning to emerge
Where a grasp of the dialectic is essential
If the disparate trends are ever to converge

Into a tapestry of mindboggling beauty
Where we humans are both actor and prop
Its a picture of an infinitely complex universe
Where the dialectic refuses to stop.

So if you’re ever asked just what it is that you believe in
If you’re asked what is your most basic of creeds
Then be sure to eschew dogmatic formulae
Dialectical thinking should satisfy all your needs.

For it will unravel the mysteries of the universe
It will illuminate the most unfathomable place
Dialectics is the natural interface of all phenomena
The greatest discovery of the entire human race.

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